All posts filed under: Teaching

I was able to do a short segment on News 12’s On the Road program yesterday. I rolled out the Paper Litho and got to talk about the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Materials and links Click here to see the segment (if you subscribe to certain cable carriers) and here is the handout for your own Paper Litho pleasure.

I have been chosen to be the new Director of the Studio School of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. I am leaving my position of Assistant Professor at the New York City College of Technology and am relocating my family and studio in the Maplewood, NJ area sometime in the next year. I will continue to teach for Parsons the New School in the AAS program for as long as that fine institution will have me–this coming year, I am teaching online classes for them. Until the transition is complete, I remain active on the Steering Committee of the Gowanus Studio Space and continue work on my long-running Monstress Mid-Living suite. My work with the EAT lab is still underway, albeit a bit slowed by all the changes.

Excellent class! June 05, 2016 Brooklyn Brainery, as per usual! I am starting to find all sorts of ways to push the instruction. There are some new ways of putting together the image that I want to bring into the class next time, concentrating on using juxtaposition of unlikely items more and more. The process is so easy to learn, I want to push the learning into some more interesting areas…

Come join me at the Brainery!! $35 per person Learn the loveliness that is the Paper Litho (also known as the Gum Arabic Transfer), a simple non-toxic technique that mimics lithography using nothing more that gum arabic-laced water, black laser prints, and oil-based printing ink! You will go over the process a few times to learn the basics and go home with original art of your own. Be prepared for evocative textures and unexpected collaboration with the materials–it really is a lovely medium! Sign up today!

I’m coming to the Brooklyn Brainery! I have the opportunity to bring my research-driven typography lessons to the public, so sign up and learn some loveliness! Learn Typography Through Printmaking! Sunday, May 22, 11:00am-1:00pm A steal at $26! Click here to register! In this class, you will learn the basics of typography through an engaging printmaking exercise: you will carve some letters of your own! You will discover first hand the concepts which make even the lowliest letters fall into a lovely composition. You will master the basics of setting type in a welcoming, informative setting while learning about the basic history and anatomy of type. You will walk away with any cards or papers you print upon and the handouts you need to continue to do this at home. Class Size: 12 No materials needed, but be prepared to get ink on your hands! Former Sessions January 17, 2016 December 20, 2015 3:30-5:30pm

In COMD 1103, I teach the fundamental skills needed to draw the observed world. This is the second semester I have been able to do so at City Tech, and I am teaching it to students within a graphic design program. Over the 15 weeks. I try to assist my students as they conquer their fear of drawing, of the blank paper, and of their own possible abilities. Color is hard, so I bring it in through the undersung loveliness of colored pencils. They are cheap, they are familiar in mark marking mechanism. They produce unexpectedly lovely results. I spend 90 minutes having my students create a color wheel with red, yellow and blue after we discuss the history of color. We compare and contrast the ways different brands’ colors mix, which actually really relaxes the students: there is more at play than talent or experience. I have the students take the dive into drawing glass at this time because they are so dazzled by color, they forget to be freaked out by transparency. No …

My amazing sister, Genny Clarke Neice, stopped by while dropping a piece off for an art show. We had a few hours in the studio, so we went over the Gum Arabic Transfer method, a printing process Gen had yet to get a chance to try. The amazing Peter Cavanaugh was also there, so he joined in and pulled a couple prints as well. It got me to thinking that I could organize a Skill Swap at Gowanus Studio Space: we could set up a week during which people could make small workshoppy-type teaching moments available and swap skills with each other. I want to help the members really see what an amazing community we have, and I want to learn new stuff without going poor.

At City Tech, I am leading a subcommittee to promote our General Education efforts. This has evolved into a brand I developed for the purpose and the City Tech College-Wide Theme. This theme is Knowing Brooklyn. I am processing work produced for this theme now as we are getting ready to have a series of college-wide shows. I assigned my Foundation Drawing class this theme as inspiration for a free draw, using the materials and tools we have covered up to that point. I asked them to add the meaning and forms they chose. The results were lovely! Effervescent, serious, and all engaged. Foundation Drawing is one of the first classes students take in the Communication Design program. Students come is with a wide variety of skill levels, but I find them all willing, playful, and eager to try new things.

I am trying to align making a paycheck beyond my teaching with advancing my research as an artist and designer. As such, I am looking to put together workshops that test ideas I am having while pushing me up to my top game. Read through the list and let me know if you are interested in any of these–I’ll prioritize the ones that y’all think are most interesting! And if you have further ideas, lay them on me, sweet people! Introduction to Building Peep Boxes I need to dive back into using lenses and such for a project, why not teach it? Gum Transfer/Paper Litho for Beginners I want to really cement my approach to this process as it is evocative, fast, and fun. Dynamic Dioramas I have a college-level class I’ve developed called Kinetic Storytelling that I want to workshop, bit by bit. Photo Pop-Ups This is to help me build steam for a project I have coming up Shadow Puppets with Modern Tools Always wanted to teach this, trying to find a precise approach… Paper Automatons …

I have lived, played, or worked in Visual Communication in some way for nearly 30 years, since the days I discovered I had to draw in order to stay sane. I have been through the waves of self-development and technological change and now that I teach these skills to others, I am always looking for ways to give the most high-impact lessons at the right time. Now, as I find myself drawn to physical computing and other modalities, I have to regroup and figure out how to show my students how to engage as beginners. Once I started teaching at the college level, I taught straight-up web design for a number of years–it taught me process, code, order, and clarity. Now that web design has been tamed rather a lot, I am anxious to find another compelling way into the conundrum of how to show students what is truly possible without overwhelming them from the start. The rub is this: how can I awaken my students to all that is possible without immediately lashing them to the …